FMCSA Calls for Comments on Hours of Service Rules

Thursday, 14 January 2010 08:03

Every year, thousands of people in the United States are injured or killed from an involvement in a semi-trailer trucking accident. One of the major causes of these injuries has been and continues to be driver fatigue. Since 1939, a government agency known as the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has set restrictions on the "hours of service" that a trucker may operate his or her vehicle. These laws are intended to promote safety by helping to ensure that truck drivers get the rest they need to operate their trucks safely. Financial reasons lead many semi-truck drivers to take on longer hauls for more hours at a time, balancing safety with profitability. Not surprisingly, HOS rules exist in an almost perpetual state of controversy.

The latest round of concerns by the trucking industry has prompted the FMCSA to re-examine its most recent rulings, which went into effect in 2003. This should lead to a new Final Rule in less than two years, the agency says. As part of that process, the FMCSA has invited the public to participate in a series of four listening sessions in January 2010. The sessions are aimed at gathering information and comments as the agency prepares another rule making proposal on hours-of-service (HOS) requirements for property-carrying commercial vehicle drivers.

As part of the process, the agency is inviting commercial drivers, carriers, owner-operators, safety advocates, safety enforcement, researchers and others about topics such as rest and on-duty time, sleeper berth use and the effect the current hours-of-service rule has on loading and unloading times for drivers. (View current FMCSA rules)

For the current round of input, FMCSA has posted five areas of discussion on its website in preparation for the listening sessions. The topics are: rest and on-duty time, restart to the 60- and 70-hour rule, sleeper berth use, loading and unloading time, and general. While this offers a glimpse into the decision making process, the agency says it has presented the questions for the sake of discussion, and that it would not necessarily include them in a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking. It said that it would, however, request similar information in that document. The FMCSA has added a section to its Web site specifically targeting the listening sessions and discussion about possible changes to the current rule.

The agency asks that answers be based on the experience and information participants can share with FMCSA. Each submittal must include the agency name and docket number, which is FMCSA 2004-19608. "In preparing comments for the FMCSA's public listening sessions, meeting participants should consider the following questions about possible alternatives to the current HOS requirements," a section Web site states. "The scenarios are merely set forth for discussion. The FMCSA will not necessarily include them in a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM), but would request similar information and data in an NPRM. Answers to these questions should be based upon the experience of the participants and any data or information they can share with the FMCSA."

Comments can be submitted online at The Federal eRulemaking Portal; by mail to the Docket Management Facility, U.S. Department of Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Ave. S.E., West Building Ground Floor, Room W12-140, Washington, D.C. 20590-0001; and by fax at 202-493-2251.